Irishman

First up...Matthew Stafford asks for a trade; the end of an era in Detroit. It will be interesting to see where the Lions go from here and where Stafford ends up. https://www.nfl.com/news/matthew-stafford-era-in-detroit-likely-over-as-star-qb-requests-trade

To clarify my post.......these camps are a tool to recruit. There are many of us who run youth camps. If there was an assumption that I was saying the camp is some form of undue influence, then I apologize. That was not my intent at all. My only point was to make the distinction the IHSAA does between recruiting and undue influence. Most people do not know the difference, and will often accuse a school of recruiting, when what they actually mean is undue influence. Recruiting in and of itself, is not in violation of IHSAA rules. Most youth camps run by a given school do have limits. They can only invite elementary through incoming freshmen. Camps not associated with a school are allowed to have high school players, like SOS and the Northeast Indiana Skills camps. Coaches that work the camps are told to limit contact with our own players as well. As far as the undue influence policy......promises of playing time, or for non public schools, scholarships or other money are just a couple of things that qualify as undue influence, and yes a high school can get in trouble for using undue influence on junior high kids.

Chatard has had a kids camp for YEARS now. As others have and will say, a lot of schools do. We canceled ours last year, but Trai Essex helps us out with it. He is a great dude too. one other point to raise....recruiting is not a bad word. People use it often, but a LOT of schools do recruiting of some sort, when the actual term that can cause problems is “undue influence”.

Not defending anything, but wow, the case of the Smalls kid.....several programs caught up in illegal recruiting issues (just scratching the surface in the whole recruiting game). That said; the one violation of Kelly's was having a picture taken with a kid in a school cafeteria? Not excusing his behavior at all mind you, but damn......how much time passes before this type of thing is ok? After all, everything Kelvin Sampson did to get in trouble is now allowed. There just needs to be some type of paradigm shift with college athletics. Pro sports could help. I know it would be tough to develop a minor league football system, but baseball and hockey have a great thing going. The only issues is that with hockey, the NHL has a draft during the season, and there are always college players that leave just before the end of a season, as the playoffs approach, for the NHL; or some minor league team. I do think like baseball, hockey has a 3 year rule. Once you set foot on campus, it is a minimum of 3 years before you go pro. More baseball players get drafted out of high school than hockey, but most know what team they belong to. Basketball seems to be developing a minor league system, but it does seem they could do a lot more. That sport seems to be the biggest culprit when it comes to just using the college system as its minor league system. In the midst of UK's run of titles; to have a completely new starting 5 in the final four in consecutive seasons is just nuts. And knowing they never attended a 2nd semester class is even more nuts. I don't know what the answer is for football, but something has to give. It has been mentioned here multiple times how basically, 3 programs dominate the recruiting wars. Didn't basketball tinker with scholarship numbers several years ago ? It seemed to elevate a large number of mid major programs at that time, and that has remained.

Maaaan, I don't know....Catholic kids are few and far between in the deep South. :)

Having long watched the NFC North, Stafford is a one or two year option at the most. Fitz and Daulton are in the same boat. There is just something in their games that cannot get a team through a season. I hope they stay away from them. Newton just has too much baggage; horrible fit for the Indy market. Darnold stays in NY. A dark horse possibility is if Mac Jones drops that far in the draft, I think he is worth the shot. Of the 3 most recent QB's at Bama, he is the one that is a true QB. Hurts and Tua are good athlets who can make things happen, but that does not necessarily translate well in the NFL. I think Jacoby is the next best option. He had a great start when his one season started. Injuries around him hurt the team; hard to put it on just his shoulders. I know that Watson is a long shot for them, but take a shot; put out some feelers and see what Houston might want. They are in rebuild mode any way, so why not? What kind of cap space do the Colts have?

hmmmm https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-super-bowls-love-affair-with-jetpacks-87001691/ "flying like Space Age supermen with their rocket belts (the more appropriate term for the technology, though I prefer “jetpack”)." But was it REALLY sooooo important that it needed to be pointed out?

and jet packs :) Cannot forget the jet packs.

Recap of Saturday's game. https://twitter.com/packers/status/1351696368272695296?s=20

Feel free to post on the main forum as well....especially about the opportunities for women who may be interested in pursuing this.

@Muda69 a little more info: NHHS: Eligible for Free Lunch 55% Eligible for Reduced Lunch 11% East Noble HS Eligible for Free Lunch 38% Eligible for Reduced Lunch 9% Leo HS: Eligible for Free Lunch 12% Eligible for Reduced Lunch 4% Other stats for Leo based on above info: HS enrollment is about the same as NHHS Grades: 7-12 Students: 1,355 students Student:Teacher Ratio: 21:1 Minority Enrollment: 11% Graduation Rate: 92% (Top 50% in IN) Overall Testing Rank: Top 30% Math Proficiency: 60% (Top 50%) Reading Proficiency: 84% (Top 5%) Diversity Score: 0.21 (Btm 50%)

Here is some info for both I would add that East Noble is a one high school community. There are 5 high schools in EACS. New Haven......our actual ADM number was just over 900 students though, but the other percentages are the same. Grades: 9-12 Students: 1,092 students Student:Teacher Ratio: 17:1 Minority Enrollment: 50% Graduation Rate: 84% (Btm 50% in IN) Overall Testing Rank: Bottom 50% Math Proficiency: 21% (Btm 50%) Reading Proficiency: 39% (Btm 50%) Diversity Score: 0.66 (Top 20%) East Noble: *** minus the 8th grade, I think they are at 1100 students this year. Grades: 8-12 Students: 1,222 students Student:Teacher Ratio: 17:1 Minority Enrollment: 10% Graduation Rate: 94% (Top 50% in IN) Overall Testing Rank: Bottom 50% Math Proficiency: 53% (Btm 50%) Reading Proficiency: 60% (Btm 50%) Diversity Score: 0.19 (Btm 50%)

so now you only want stats to back up what I said.....I told you about the size of our linemen, but that was an excuse to you, even though players' height and weight are stats, as is comparing them to opponents. Should we look at scholarship athletes in a program? We have TWO that have been offered by St. Francis. That is it; no other offers, and really no looks. Last year; no offers...had a couple that could have played, but chose to not go to college. The year before, again no offers. One would think if the program had the talent you say it does, we would have more offers. Want tto compare that to the other programs in the conference that are regularly at the top of the conference? How many of your rings were at New Haven? Like that has anything to do with anything here. You brought up rings as if they are some sort of credential to somehow make your opinion of the program superior to mine. You have defended nothing...Not going to argue that the program has been middle of the pack in recent times; and I have even said we lost games we should not have. But you had actually claimed we were somehow loaded with talent, and should be competing for titles and that it is embarrassing that we have not. The fact is that there are things that go on in a program from day to day that I will not get into on here, that someone as far away from it like you just cannot see. But somehow, you know better than me...lol

Still one of my greatest memories was the last game I saw at Lambeau. It was Favre's last win as a Packer against the Seahawks. It started out rough as two turnovers lead to two quick TD's by Seattle. But the rest of the day belonged to Favre. But driving snow throughout; great tailgate. I also took an older brother to his first game at Lambeau....great memories.

lol Look, you want to take shots at a program, fine. Apparently you were not prepared to be called on your BS. As far as a personal shot....just matched yours is all, snowflake. two blue rings here...and 27 years of coaching...so yeah.....as if that gives you the credentials to talk about a program you have never been a part of and don't even follow now.

Ohhhh, I will admit it. What the Bucs did to Green Bay during the season is still fresh in mind. That said, I am fine with where Green Bay is sitting right now. Clearly, the two best teams over the course of this season in the NFC are playing for a title. Sure they both had bumps along the way; it is pro football, that happens. I would add, I would be even more nervous if the game were in Tampa. Even though they are pros, most of the guy in Tampa have not played in weather like this yet.....and watching the former players on the talk shows......it is definitely a factor when it gets to the point it is supposed to in Green Bay.

From someone with NO credentials and about as bright as said brick wall apparently, to speak about such a thing...tell me one thing that was not accurate there?

I have not made one excuse........as far as South side, like I said, every program has had moments they did not show up to play. That was just one of those games.....no excuses. EN was runner up in 18, by the way. As I said, they are just consistently bigger and better than us most years. They do have some other advantages as far as their schedule goes that give them an edge; especially in years we have been in the hunt for a conference title. Bottom line is the talent level has been nowhere near what you have stated, and we have been consistently smaller up front the last few years than every opponent.

I have not disagreed that we have struggled to compete, but your notion that we should be competing for conference titles is a criticism of the kids and/or the coaches, and an inaccurate one. And the fact is that we simply have not competed. You may want to check conference titles. It has ben more than one in the time you mention, including an NE8 Title; so yeah, I will question your credentials. East Noble? They were a State runner up 2 seasons ago; who did compete with them before the playoffs or in the conference? How about you look at the schedule layout for the conference. East Noble sees every week of film from us because they follow us most of the season. They also have a week off for Fall break. They are a bigger program; especially up front, and in many cases by about 50 lbs a person. And that is year in and year out. But someone with the detailed criticisms you have SHOULD be able to see that.....hmmmm. It really is not a matter of being content. We work with what comes to us. What good football programs are you thinking of with the comment?

And my comment really was directed to things that have more to do with the situation at NHHS than just on the field. As far as the roster goes, we were outweighed across the line every week, except in one position. Athletes? Our DB's were an average of 5'8". Undisciplined??? @Yuccaguy has some thoughts along with me on that one, being that we are the only urban program in the conference. We struggle to finish at the top every year??? You mean outside of the year we were a conference champ??? lol...again, what exactly are your credentials?

Actually, nothing you stated was fact. I will take my perspective over yours any day. What exactly are your credentials to make such an assessment of the program? I have actually stated many things in the follow up as to why you are wrong.

I thought at the time that Sampson was a great hire. What is crazy is that everything he did to get in trouble is now allowed. I agree with your assessment of Crean; great recruiter, but ok as a coach. When Miller did come in though, there were off court issues he had to deal with from a few of Crean's players.

All of those things are factors. There are still others that were exaggerated and/or ignored that I will not get into here.